Monday, December 12, 2011

Two more Valparaiso men’s soccer players have received NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region honors, as fifth-year senior Wei Ming Wong (Hong Kong/Hong Kong International [SMU]) and redshirt junior Kyle Zobeck (Coralville, Iowa/Iowa City West) both earned spots on the All-Region Third Team.  The duo joins fifth-year senior Stefan Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson [College of Lake County/Marquette]), who was revealed as a First Team All-Region honoree late last week.

Wong was a fixture at center back for the Crusaders in 2011, coming off the pitch in just two of Valpo’s 20 contests while starting all 20 games.  The senior was an integral part of a defensive unit that surrendered a school record low 14 goals this season while posting 11 clean sheets.  The Second Team All-Horizon League honoree also picked up a game-winning goal against IPFW and chipped in an assist as well.

Meanwhile, Zobeck was the man between the pipes for the Crusaders all season long.  The Horizon League Goalkeeper of the Year The redshirt junior set a new Valpo single-season record with 11 shutouts, tied for the seventh-most shutouts in a single year in Horizon League history, and broke the Crusaders’ career record in Valpo’s final game with his 18^th career clean sheet.  In addition, he easily topped Valpo’s single-season goals against average mark, closing the season with a 0.66 GAA.  Zobeck led the league at the close of the season in both GAA and shutouts as well.

Valpo, which had just one All-Region honoree in program history prior to 2011, had three players honored this year, trailing only Indiana and Northern Illinois (four apiece) for most honorees in the Great Lakes Region.  The Crusaders were also the only Horizon League squad to place more than two players on the three All-Region teams.